When we think about insulating our home we usually do it to reduce heat loss and hence save money on fuel bills. The first measures to consider are adequate loft insulation followed by some cavity wall insulation. Interestingly however, if you use a material like Rockwool you can achieve both heat and sound insulation in one go.
Sound insulation is arguably an increasingly important consideration in a home, especially if you live in a flat and don't want to annoy the neighbours with your hi-fi or want them to annoy you. Many modern homes have incorporated wood floors because they look good and require minimum maintenance, but these types of flooring, and laminates even more so, are quite noisy. Many people have to live with noise from outside, from aircraft, trains, or road traffic, and one of the important benefits of double glazing that makes it so popular is that it helps insulate against noise.
Acoustic Insulation materials are increasingly being incorporated into newly built homes and offices in order that we may all live and work in a slightly quieter environment. Although foam plastic helps to insulate against heat and noise it is an extremely dangerous material to use in buildings because of the fire risk and health hazard of the smoke. The best available material seems to be mineral fibre such as Rockwool which can be used in sheets to put down in the loft and in the cavities between brick walls. Rockwool is made from a type of volcanic rock that is processed and spun into fibres to create different types of insulating products which are all effective at insulating against heat and sound, and are also fire retardant. This makes the material ideal in modern construction for acoustic ceilings and in the making of internal partition walls using a special sandwich board. (more...)